Slab anchor



w. cHlvlL SLAB ANCHOR Filed Jan. 22, 1964 Y INVENTOR JOHN W. CHIVILLE AT'TORNEY5 United States Patent 3,299,601 SLAB ANCHOR John W. Chiville, Greenbelt, Md., assignor to Tecfab Incorporated, Beltsville, Md., a corporation of Mary- This invention relates to facing slabs or the like and more particularly to improved anchoring means for securing slabs to a cementitious backing.

The object of the present invention is to provide improved anchoring means which is particularly though not exclusively useful for attaching decorative slabs of marble or the like to the faces of structural panels, articularly those of the precast variety as disclosed, for example, in the patent to Berliner, No. 2,839,812.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a pre-cast structural panel which incorporates the anchor of the invention, the panel being shown disposed in a casting mold; and

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the anchor of the invention taken substantially on the line 22 of FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a structural panel generally indicated by the numeral 10, is shown in a casting mold indicated by the numeral 12. The mold comp-rises a platform or casting table 14 having a flat horizontal upper surface on which is laid a "wooden rectangular frame, designated by the numeral 16, carrying angles 18 to which are attached by screws 20 the vertical wall parts 22 of inwardly facing C-shaped channels 24 which compose the four sides of the completed structural pane-ls.

Within the space defined by the side channels 24 is an 'appertured metallic corrugation 26 imbedded in porous cementitious material 28 such as pearlite or the like, and on the side of the layer 28 is a mesh sheet 30 which serves to lock the porous material 28 to a lower layer 34, of dense cementitious material such as Portland cement. Bonded to the lower dense layer 34 by the anchoring means of the invention are decorative marble facing slabs 38.

Referring now to FIG. 2, it will be observed that the anchoring means comprise resilient Wirelike members 40 having an elongated central body part 41 and in-turned converging end parts 42, 43, having inner and outermost edge or wall parts 44, 45 and '46, 47 respectively, the end parts preferably forming 45 acute angles with the central part. Drilled in the rear face of the marble slab 38 are a pair of openings 48, 50, having substantially the same converging angularity as the anchor end parts and having diameters equal to substantially twice that of the V 3,299,601 Patented Jan. 24, 1967 ice wardly as indicated by the phantom lines 60 to insure that the central part of the anchor is properly spaced away from the slab, thus avoiding the necessity of precise tolerances in the horizontal spacing between the openings 48, 50.

In use in the manufacture of a structural panel, the wooden mold frame 16 is first laid on the casting table 14 and thereafter the decorative marble slabs 38 are laid within the frame. The rear or upper faces of the slabs are pre-drilled to provide the pairs of openings 48, 50 and the anchors are engaged in the openings by first inserting one in-turned end part, say end 43 in its opening and then sliding the anchor in the direction of the opposite opening 48 until the other in-turned end 42 enters the opening, the end being sprung slightly outwardly if necessary to insure that the end enters the second opening. After both ends are engaged in their respective anchor material and being spaced from each other a distance such that their outermost wall parts, indicated by the numerals 52, 54, are equal to the corresponding spacing between the outermost edge parts 45, 47 of the intu-rned end parts 42, 43 of the anchor. With this arrangement it will be apparent that when the anchors are in their position of use the end parts engage the outermost wall parts 52, 54 of the openings and the central part 41 of the anchor is thus supported in spaced relationship above the inner surface of the slabs 38 as clearly shown in FIG. 2. If desired, and as an alternative construction the central part 41 of the anchor can be centrally crimped downopenings, and where the slab is horizontal as in FIG. 1, when the anchor is released it drops slightly under the influence of gravity until the outer edge parts 45, 47 engage the outermost wall parts 52, 54 of :the Openings whereby the central part 41 is retained spaced above the adjacent surface of the slab as previously mentioned.

After the several anchors of all the slabs are in place the layer of dense cementitious material is spread over the rear faces of the slabs, care being taken to insure that the cement is forced into the openings to surround the inturned ends of the anchors so that the latter are positively locked in position after the cement is hardened. As the cement is spread it flows beneath the several anchors as shown in FIG. 2 and before the first layer sets up .the panel is assembled and the porous body of cementitious material is cast, the lower layer 36 of dense material setting up with the porous body and around the anchoring members of the invention to firmly and securely fix the marble slabs to the front face of the completed panel.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the anchor of the invention is not limited to use with pre-cast structural panels of the type shown and described but the anchor may be used with equal efiicacy in other environments. It will also be apparent that the anchor is susceptible of changes and modifications without departing from the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a slab-like facing member and an anchor for fixing said facing member to a cementitious backing, said facing member having at least one pair of spaced, inwardly converging openings in one face thereof, each of said openings having spaced inner and outermost wall parts, the innermost wall parts of said pair of openings being adjacent each other and the outermost wall parts of said pair of openings being remote from each other, said anchor comprising an elongated body part of resilient wire-like construction having in-turned end parts integral with said body part and converging toward each other at substantially the same degree of angularity as as said pair of openings and received therein, said inturned end parts having inner and outer wall parts, the body part member having a dimension with respect to the spacing between the outermost wall parts of said pair of openings that the outermost wall parts of said inturned end parts engage the outermost wall parts of said pair of openings in a position to space the body part of said anchor away from said one face of said slab like member.

2. The anchor of claim 1 including a crimp in said body member intermediate the ends and extending in the same direction as said in-turned end parts.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein the cross-sectional area of said openings is substantially greater than the cross-sectional area of said in-turned end parts, with the innermost wall parts of said openings being spaced a distance away from the corresponding innermost wall parts of said in-turned end parts suflicient to enable said parts to be engaged in said openings by lateral movement of said anchor with respect to said openings.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said openings are filled with cementiti'ous material as to lock said end parts in said openings.

FRANK 4 References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1890 Kelly 52679 2/1910 Wightman 52597 6/1931 Carvel 52513 6/1937 Burgel 52513 X 10/1939 Turoo 52597 X 6/1958 Berliner 52602 X FOREIGN PATENTS 12/1913 Great Britain. 9/ 1942 Great Britain.

ABBOTT, Primary Examinen A. C. PERHAM, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION, A SLAB-LIKE FACING MEMBER AND AN ANCHOR FOR FIXING SAID FACING MEMBER TO A CEMENTITIOUS BACKING, SAID FACING MEMBER HAVING AT LEAST ONE PAIR OF SPACED, INWARDLY CONVERGING OPENINGS IN ONE FACE THEREOF, EACH OF SAID OPENINGS HAVING SPACED INNER AND OUTERMOST WALL PARTS, THE INNERMOST WALL PARTS OF SAID PAIR OF OPENINGS BEING ADJACENT EACH OTHER AND THE OUTERMOST WALL PARTS OF SAID PAIR OF OPENINGS BEING REMOTE FROM EACH OTHER, SAID ANCHOR COMPRISING AN ELONGATED BODY PART OF RESILIENT WIRE-LIKE CONSTRUCTION HAVING IN-TURNED END PARTS INTEGRAL WITH SAID BODY PART AND CONVERGING TOWARD EACH OTHER AT SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME DEGREE OF ANGULARITY AS AS SAID PAIR OF OPENINGS AND RECEIVED THEREIN, SAID INTURNED END PARTS HAVING INNER AND OUTER WALL PARTS, THE BODY PART MEMBER HAVING A DIMENSION WITH RESPECT TO THE SPACING BETWEEN THE OUTERMOST WALL PARTS OF SAID PAIR OF OPENINGS THAT THE OUTERMOST WALL PARTS OF SAID INTURNED END PARTS ENGAGE THE OUTERMOST WALL PARTS OF SAID PAIR OF OPENINGS IN A POSITION TO SPACE THE BODY PART OF SAID ANCHOR AWAY FROM SAID ONE FACE OF SAID SLAB LIKE MEMBER. 